In commercial and residential construction, electrical components are mounted adjacent studs or other structural members to which wall board is applied. Various devices have been developed to support the electrical components, which may include electrical switches and receptacles and low voltage components such as data and communications terminals, through openings in the wall board. Typically, when employing devices such as switches and receptacles which terminate electrical wires, an outlet box is installed by attaching the box to an edge of the stud. The box is positioned on the stud to extend outward of the stud a sufficient distance so that the wall board attached over the stud will be flush with the open face of the box. In low voltage applications such as with data and communications terminations, a bracket may be employed which is supported to the stud and allows mounting of the low voltage termination thereto. The bracket would also accommodate wall board which is attached over the stud.
For most commercial and residential applications, wall board is manufactured in two different thicknesses commonly, ½″ and ⅝″. This requires the electrical component installer to know the thickness of wall board being used at a particular site so as to properly position the box or bracket on the stud. In the alternative, the wall board installer must reposition the box or bracket on the stud. Either technique is time consuming, costly and error prone.
One solution to this problem is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,039. Therein described is a reversible bracket which is attached to the front face of the outlet box. An external wall board mounted thereto is adjustably positioned with respect to the front face of the box to adjust the position of the wall board with respect to the box. While adequately providing compensation for variation in wall board thickness, the device of the '039 patent design does so by adjusting the depth of the box. Thus, the resulting box for a ⅝″ wall board is shallower than the resulting box for a ½″ wall board.
It is desirable to provide a bracket which will accommodate wall board of different thickness either for use with an electrical box or for directly accommodating an electrical component.